Equality Impact Statements

Overview

The Equality Impact Statements analyze provincial legislation using gender as a focal point to compare the intentions of law-makers to meet standards of fairness and equality with the actual outcomes of legislative and policy choice; the ultimate goal was to ensure that provincial legislation was having a positive impact on British Columbians.

Why this project?

The Equality Impact Statements were developed to be a legislative auditing and analysis tool that could assist equality-seeking groups and government actors in ensuring that provincial legislation is having a positive impact on British Columbians. They highlight where the intentions of law-makers have been successful and where they have not, and offer considerations for legislative or policy reform.

What we did

We looked at three legislative issues:

Carbon Tax;

Residential Tenancy Act; and

Home Heating

For each issue, we outlined the positive, negative, and potentially gendered impacts of a given piece of legislation on particularly vulnerable groups.

Issue 1: Carbon Tax

Examining BC’s Carbon Tax Act (2008), we identified two groups who may be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of the carbon tax: low-income individuals, and people living in rural areas.

To limit the scope of this analysis, we focused exclusively on transportation issues as they relate to the carbon tax. Our activities included:

Conducting a legal review of the legislation and a literature review of available research.

Undertaking a limited consultation process, we heard from women’s organizations outside of the Lower Mainland in regard to the impacts of the carbon tax by approaching women’s organizations, advocates and community researchers in Campbell River, Lower Mainland, Williams Lake and Penticton.

Issue 2: Residential Tenancy Act

Examining BC’s Residential Tenancy Act (2002), we identified two groups as being particularly vulnerable to these provisions: seniors (particularly senior women), and single mothers and their children.

Our activities on this issue included:

Reviewing the Residential Tenancy Act and records of the legislative debates surrounding its introduction in 2002.

Reviewing literature from a wide variety of sources pertaining to housing rights, focusing on research specific to the experiences of women and seniors.

Conducting consultations with tenants and tenant advocates in BC, most of whom were based in the City of Vancouver.

Issue 3: Home Heating

This statement examined the impacts of BC’s British Columbia Utilities Commission Act (1996), Demand Side Measures Regulation (2008), and the BC Energy Plan: A Vision for Clean Energy Leadership on vulnerable groups. We identified two groups who may be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of the legislative framework surrounding home heating: low-income individuals in rural communities, and single mothers.

Our activities on this issue included:

Conducting a literature review from a wide variety of sources focusing on energy poverty and gendered analysis of climate change.

Reviewing legislation, regulations, and provincial legislative debates for the years surrounding major revisions to the Utilities Commission Act and the introduction of Demand Side Measures Regulation.

Conducting a limited consultation with community organizations and legal advocates in a small rural community in the north.

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West Coast LEAF is the only organization in BC that uses the law to further gender equality. We work to end gender-based discrimination using equality rights litigation, law reform, and public legal education.